The Best Pizza Dough

We think this is The Best Pizza Dough recipe we have tried. And we get a lot of practice with it because almost every Saturday night we make pizza. If we aren’t making {this pizza} we’re making it with this delicious dough. After trying several different dough recipes we finally settled on this particular one that I found here a couple of years ago. It’s soft, slightly chewy, and rises to perfection but is not overly bready. The original recipe recommends mixing the dough the evening prior to serving {or early on the day of serving} but there have been times that I forgot or didn’t plan well enough and end up making it just two or three hours prior to dinner time and it still turns out well. Maybe not as well, but it’s still mighty delicious. Are you ready to give it a try? Ok. Let’s get started.

Recipe notes: I usually make this with all-purpose flour because we like the flavor better. We have tried it with 1/2 wheat flour and it’s pretty good but we don’t like it as well. So even though it isn’t as nutritious, that is how I make it.

If you’re going to make homemade pizza it’s really worthwhile to invest in a pizza paddle and a pizza stone. In my opinion, the pizza stone is essential to a well-cooked crust and gives it that crusty outer layer with a soft chewy bread inside, and the center of the pizza cooks thoroughly and doesn’t have any soggy areas. You could get by without a pizza paddle but it makes it easy and safe to slide the pizza on and off the flaming hot stone.

*45-60 minutes before baking, place the pizza stone on the center rack in a cold oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

4 cups all-purpose flour (maybe a little less or a little more ~ see notes in the directions)

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer and using the flat beater, mix the water, yeast, sugar, honey, and oil.

Mix in 1 cup of flour and the salt.

One cup at a time, add 2 more cups of flour (still using the flat beater).

Switch to the dough hook and add 1 more cup of flour, and then add a little bit more, if needed, until you get a nice, soft dough that no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl and knead the dough for 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover tightly with a lid or plastic wrap, and then place in the refrigerator to slowly rise until three hours before baking. Three hours prior to baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature, keeping it tightly covered.

Notes

This dough can easily be made whole wheat. Replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour {I freshly grind my own wheat} and use 3 tablespoons of honey and eliminate the sugar. :: If making the dough just a few hours prior to baking the pizza, don't place the dough in the refrigerator. Just cover it tightly and leave it on the counter to rise. :: If you are only wanting to make one pizza, half of the dough can be frozen. After the kneading step, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and then place in a freezer bag.

Printed from A Bright and Beautiful Life {www.abrightandbeautifullife.com}

6. Cut a piece of parchment paper (or dust pizza paddle with cornmeal) and place it on your pizza paddle. Lightly spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.
7. Divide the dough and working with your hands stretch the dough to mostly cover the pizza paddle. Repeat with the other piece of dough on another piece of parchment paper.
8. Add pizza sauce and toppings.
9. Slide the pizza (and parchment paper) onto the hot pizza stone and bake for 6-9 minutes.
10. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes before slicing.

30 Responses to The Best Pizza Dough

Yum! I have tried so many pizza dough recipes and have had so much trouble over the course of my post-college life that now I resign myself to buying pizza dough from the bakery section at my grocery store. But this recipe looks really yummy, so the next time I make pizza I’ll have to give it a try.

yum! We love Homemade pizza too. I have a recipe I like, but am going to try yours and compare :o) Thanks for linking up to Tasteful Tuesdays! love it! Really appreciate you stopping by my blog! I’m trying to keep in better touch with my linkers/readers… If you already follow me, please let me know I will find your blog on Bloglovin (I’m transferring my follows there)if you don’t follow in any way, would you consider following via GFC or other method?http://www.nap-timecreations.com

Thanks for this recipe. i am going to have to try it because my husband doesn’t really like my pizza dough recipe So we end up buying pizza from a store or carry out. I would really like to make my own. I do tend to forget about making cheesy breadsticks. I know our readers would love this, too. We have a weekly link up party going on now (Thursdays), and we would love to see this post and/or any others you would like to share at allthingswithpurpose.com. Hope to see you soon!

Hi Julia. Give this a try and see how you like it. We have shared it with lots of people and they always ask for the recipe. So I hop you like it, too. Thanks for the invite. I’ll pop on over there now.

This looks wonderful!! I love homemade pizza. My husband makes an excellent pizza dough, but maybe we will give this recipe a try next time to compare! It looks sooo good I am so happy you linked up to the Back for Seconds Social – I am featuring this recipe tomorrow!! Congrats 😉